BOGOTA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez will open a gas pipeline linking the two countries on Friday, Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said on Monday.

    "We have planned a meeting for the presidents to open the bi-national gas pipeline," he said without detailing where the meeting would take place.

    The 177-km pipeline cost 335 million U.S. dollars and links the Colombian region of Punta Ballenas in the northern province of Guajira and the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo.

    "We have also invited Ecuador's Rafael Correa because we have thought about the pipeline reaching Ecuador and possibly Peru and Bolivia," Araujo said.

    During the pipeline's first phase, Colombia will supply Venezuela with 200 million cubic feet of gas. Later, Venezuela will use the same pipeline to supply gas to Colombia and Panama.